Hi guys!
Today is the last part of that Fructose Malabsorption series and it's a video I'm most excited about
and I've been waiting for it, I mean I've been waiting for the time to make it from
the first one because this is so important to me.
I've been wanting to share this with you, for around a couple of months, but I had to
prepare you with the previous four videos to give you all the data and all the information
because I understand this topic is quite controversial.
A lot of people believe that they are indeed gluten intolerant, even though none of their
bloodwork shows it, and it's quite a sensitive topic at the moment, but I think it's important
to talk about it, so let's dive into the video.
If somebody has Celiac Disease, then of course they shouldn't eat gluten, nobody is even
discussing about it.
That's pretty obvious.
However, so many people nowadays are diagnosed with something called Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity
or Gluten Intolerance, which basically doesn't have a defined...
it's not a defined term, it doesn't have an actual clear definition.
It doesn't have any kind of blood tests to prove it.
It's all based just on symptoms and it's something called "clinical diagnosis", which basically
means that it's just diagnosed based on the symptoms.
But the question is, is gluten really the culprit or is there something else that is
in wheat and other gluten containing grains that actually causes this trouble?
This question has been bothering me since the first day I started looking into gluten
intolerance, and, you know, I've been off gluten for 6 months, but I kept thinking about
it because I didn't really see much progress and I just kept digging and looking for more
information.
A study came out in 2013 that looked at the link between Non Celiac Gluten Sensitive individuals
and FODMAP.
If you don't know what FODMAP is, it's a group of certain carbs like fructose, lactose, fructans,
and sorbitol, and things like that, that cause digestive problems to some people.
If you want to know more about it, just watch my previous video.
I made a whole video just about Low FODMAP Diet, but basically they wanted to see whether
it was gluten that was making those people sensitive or whether it was FODMAPs.
So what they did is they took 37 people with diagnosed IBS, which is Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Basically, when somebody has bowel symptoms, but nobody knows why, and they were all diagnosed
with Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity, so they for sure didn't have Celiac Disease.
So they were already following a gluten-free diet and the scientists took them off any
kind of FODMAP containing foods for a while, and all of them had significant improvement.
So then what they did was reintroduce gluten into their diet, but only gluten not containing
FODMAPs, and only 7% of them experienced any kind of worsening of their symptoms, which
means that out of those 37 people only 7% really had gluten intolerance.
All the others actually reacted to FODMAP in foods.
So when I read about this study, it really made me think a lot because I've always suspected
that gluten was just a very handy culprit for the industry to make lots of money because
gluten-free foods are making so much money for the industry as, you know, they're becoming
so fashionable and every single supermarket has shelves stocked full of them.
I've always been interested whether it's really real, if it's gluten or if it's something
else, and this article really opened my mind.
The next thing I started looking into was gliadin antibodies.
So if you've been following my thyroid healing journey and my health journey in general for
the last couple of years, you would know that I found that I had gliadin antibodies, which
is sort of antibodies that the body makes against gluten or gliadin, which is a sort
of protein in wheat and gluten containing grains.
I stayed off gluten for 6 months and in June I went to Lithuania and I was going to do
all of my blood tests and to see what my gluten antibodies were doing.
I said to myself, "If gluten was really the culprit, then my antibodies would have reduced
a lot or they would be totally normal by that time".
By that time I'd already read these studies linking FODMAP foods to gluten intolerance,
and so I thought that if my antibodies were the same or even higher, then that would be
the proof to me that it wasn't gluten, that it was fructose malabsorption.
Because antibodies to gluten in the blood actually don't mean that you're necessarily
sensitive to gluten.
It just means that your intestines are irritated by something that you're eating or doing or
you're lacking, whatever it is.
That's all it means and it can also be caused by fructose malabsorption, you know, like
fructans.
And then I actually pulled up a list of all the different illnesses that could cause...
not necessarily cause, nobody really know what causes it, but other conditions that
have gliadin antibodies associated with them, and there are things like bipolar disorder,
Crohn's disease, diabetes, Down syndrome, depression, IBS, liver disease, psoriasis,
rheumatoid arthritis, schizophrenia, thyroid disease, and also ulcerative colitis.
So obviously nobody knows whether gluten antibodies are causing all of these illnesses or vice
versa, they're both caused by something else, like maybe some kind of a nutrient deficiency.
Nobody really knows, but the truth is gliadin antibodies alone don't necessarily mean that
gluten is the culprit.
It just means to me it's just a symptom of something much bigger.
It might be that it's something like B12 and folate deficiency related to a certain gene
mutation.
It's another theory that I'm investigating now, but that's a topic for another video.
Nobody really knows, but the fact is that just the gliadin antibodies don't mean anything
by themselves.
And that's why when I went to Lithuania, I made up my mind that if my antibodies were
low, then that would be my proof that gluten is my problem and I would continue being gluten-free.
But if my antibodies were the same or higher, then I would try to eat bread again and see
for myself how I feel.
Because after 6 months of being gluten-free, if gluten was really my problem, I should
have felt really bad.
So Lithuania was the best place to do it because bread in Lithuania is incredible.
It's not all sourdough, but there's lots of sourdough bread like the traditional black
Lithuanian bread, it's all sourdough and it's so good, so I thought you know what, I haven't
been there for 3 years, I haven't tasted that bread for 3 years, I might as well do it there
and taste that bread that I haven't tasted for so many years.
And I did.
I went out with my friend to a restaurant for lunch and I ordered some spinach soup
and they brought some beautiful sourdough bread with it, and I thought, "You know what?
Sod it!
I'm going to try it and see what happens.
Right then, right there."
And I did, and nothing happened.
I felt great, actually better than ever.
And the next day I got some sourdough bread and I kept eating little by little, and nothing
happened.
I actually felt really good.
Then I came back home and I started my sourdough starter and I started making my sourdough
bread and I felt great.
Up to this day, I've been eating it now for almost 2 months and I'm doing great.
I'm so happy because I'm back to eating every single food group.
There is nothing that I can't eat.
There are certain things like foods really high in sorbitol or fructose that I have to
limit, but there's nothing that I have to eliminate.
There is everything that I can eat, and to be honest, for me that's always been my ultimate
goal because for me complete healing is not when you have to eliminate certain food groups,
when you can't eat something because if you can't eat certain foods, you can't really
travel freely, you can't really enjoy your special occasions with the family.
That's not complete healing.
That's just process of healing, but it's not complete.
And I said to myself that I'm not going to stop until I get to the point where I can
eat everything, as long as it's real food and not processed shit, you know.
Until I can eat everything and not have any kind of problems or symptoms from it, and
I'm very close to that point, so I'm so grareful.
Talking about FODMAP and gluten intolerance, you might be wondering, you know, what to
do if you think you're gluten intolerant, but maybe it's actually FODMAPS, so what actually
can you eat?
So if that's really the case and you want to experiment for yourself, what you can do
is get some 100% sourdough bread or even better make it yourself to make sure that it's properly
fermented, and try it.
According to the low FODMAP food diet app, which is an amazing resource for anybody with
fructose or FODMAP issues, you can safely eat up to two slices of spelt or wheat sourdough
and you can even eat a slice of non sourdough white wheat bread, and it's not going to cause
you troubles.
You have to be careful with wholegrain wheat bread though because that one is going to
irritate your intestines, even in small amounts.
So that's amazing because now when I go to restaurants, I can actually nibble on some
bread that they bring and I don't have to worry about any kind of traces of gluten like
I used to in the past, and it's just so liberating.
It's just amazing.
So it's definitely worth experimenting for yourself and see if it's really gluten that
is causing you troubles.
There have even been studies where even people with actual Celiac Disease were able to tolerate
properly fermented sourdough bread, so definitely experiment by yourself.
Don't get scared and brainwashed by the industry and by the doctors that you're totally powerless
in this process.
You can heal yourself.
Keep researching, believe in your body, listen to the signs it's trying to send you, and
keep experimenting.
Experimenting is the best way to find solutions.
Restrictions only lead to more restrictions down the road.
Elimination diets are great as a temporary reset for the system, but they're not good
long-term because they're just going to bring you to more and more sensitivities.
So I really hope that you got some new information from this video and that it made you think
because these studies have definitely made me think a lot.
I really hope that you won't unsubscribe from me because you're disappointed in me because
I'm eating gluten again.
Don't worry, I know what I'm doing.
I know my body.
I'm feeling better than ever, so don't worry, I'm going to be OK.
So I hope that you liked this video and I'll see you in my next one.
Bye!